Columbia Middle School Principal Geoff Bontrager down to final two for Northwest superintendent job

JACKSON, MI – A local educator has made it to the final round of interviews for the Northwest Community Schools superintendent position.

Courtesy PhotoGeoff Bontrager

Columbia Middle School Principal Geoff Bontrager and JoAnn Spry, a current administrator in Gratiot County’s St. Louis Public Schools, have been chosen by the Northwest School Board from a slate of six finalists for second-round interviews.

Those interviews will take place Friday at Kidder Middle School, 6700 Rives Junction Road, immediately following a 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. reception at which the public is invited to meet and speak with the finalists. The interviews also are open to the public.

“Geoff obviously has great leadership skills that make the kind of superintendent staff and the community could get behind without a doubt,” said Northwest School Board President Kevin Kingsley. “And JoAnn has a lot of experience and has worn a lot of hats.”

Before joining the middle school, Bontrager was principal of the now-closed Miller Elementary School, and before that he was a teacher in the Western School District. Bontrager’s wife, Jeanne, is a Title 1 reading specialist with Northwest schools.

Spry was superintendent of St. Louis schools until last summer when the school board removed her from the job. The district paid her $126,000 salary and honored the final year of her contract, which expires June 30, by keeping her on as athletic director, transportation director, grant writer and administrative substitute when building principals were sick or absent.

Spry also has interviewed but not been selected for superintendent jobs in several districts, including Morley Stanwood, Lakeview, Big Rapids and Corunna.

Northwest School Board members will make site visits to Columbia and St. Louis schools the week of May 21 and then schedule a meeting to choose the district’s next superintendent, who is expected to be in place by July 1, Kingsley said.

“It has been a very long and thorough process,” Kingsley said. “But this is the leader of our school district. It is a very important process.”